It may be early days in the development of hydrogen-powered trains and locomotives but their future is bright as net-zero emission commitments by governments around the world pile on the pressure to decarbonise passenger and freight rail systems.

Diesel continues to dominate global rail transport, accounting for nearly 60pc in 2019, with electricity accounting for the rest. Hydrogen is aimed at rail routes which are difficult to electrify and out of range for batteries.

“There are two ways to decarbonise hard to electrify train routes, battery power for distances up to around 120km, although that can be impacted by factors such as topography and number of stops, and hydrogen for routes longer than that,” Katharina Meltzer, platform manager hydrogen trains at Siemens Mobility, the world’s third largest railway train manufacturer, tells Hydrogen Economist.

"Locomotive’s need substantially more power, but they do not have the same space and weight constraints for the fuel cells, batteries and hydrogen storage tanks" Meltzer, Siemens Mobility

Several companies are developing hydrogen-powered trains, with the European-based ones such as Alstom Transport – the world’s second largest manufacturer with its recent acquisition of Bombardier Transportation—and Siemens focusing on self-propelled trains with passenger travel dominating the continent’s rail traffic.

In contrast, the lone North American company, Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), obviously a railway rather than a manufacturer, is focusing its efforts on developing a hydrogen-powered locomotive, since freight dominates rail traffic on that continent.

Trains

Alstom is leading the hydrogen-powered commuter train pack with Coradia iLint. In April the company announced its first commercial sale of the iLint. German regional transport operator Landesnahverkehrsgesellschaft Niedersachsen (LNVG) is to take delivery of 14 Coradia iLint passenger trains to service a line between Buxtehude, outside Hamburg, and the coastal town of Cuxhaven, with commercial operations to begin in March 2022. This hydrogen fuel cell powered train, which can run in one to three car units, has been undergoing trials and testing in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria since 2018.

Running in second place, albeit at least a few years behind, is Siemens with its Mireo Plus H. Their commuter train comes in two and three car units, increasing its range from about 600km to between 800 to 1,000km, depending on the line profile and mode of operation.

58pc – Share of global rail transport fueled by diesel in 2019

Similar to the Coradia iLint, the Mireo Plus H is designed to store hydrogen as compressed gas in tanks on top of the cars, which proved a technological feat, according to Meltzer. “Conventional high compression tanks are simply too heavy, especially for the top of a train, forcing us to develop a lightweight tank, much like a plastic bottle coated with carbon fiber.”

Locomotives

In December, CP announced a pilot program to develop North America’s first line-haul hydrogen-powered locomotive, by retrofitting a diesel-powered one with hydrogen fuel cells and batteries to drive the traction motors.

During an online presentation to the Midwest Association of Rail Shippers in January, Keith Creel, president and CEO of CP, said the locomotive should be operational sometime in 2022. “By the end of next year, for certain, probably mid next year, we’re going to have a freight locomotive that’s going to have about 3,000hp that we’re going to be running in a pilot program,” he said.

Creel’s timeline for his company’s pilot project appears reasonable, at least based on comments made by Siemens’ Meltzer regarding the technical challenges of manufacturing a hydrogen-powered locomotive compared to a commuter train like the Mireo Plus H. “Locomotive’s need substantially more power, but they do not have the same space and weight constraints for the fuel cells, batteries and hydrogen storage tanks.”

Creel also said during his presentation that CP has no plans of becoming a manufacturer of locomotives. “It’s not our dream and our vision to build locomotives,” he said. “It’s our dream and vision to build this pilot locomotive to prove the concept, and make it reliable. And then we’re going to hand that to the [manufacturers] and say, ‘Now, build it for the industry.’

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Author: Vincent Lauerman